It has long been standard practice for an operatic artist who has prepared a role thoroughly to take cues from a house prompter.
"When I'm preparing a role I learn my lines methodically – I go over and over them until the images of the character become clear," he says.
The son of two devoted workers for the Salvation Army, Jeffries disliked personal publicity and was a zealot when preparing a role (he ran two miles every morning before appearing in the musical Hello Dolly! after an absence from the London stage of 26 years).
Will Papa Lazarou Spence asks: How long does it usually take you to prepare for a role on stage, and what has been the most difficult of your stage roles to prepare for?
How, then, does he actually prepare for a role?
She often uses music to prepare for a role.
But the games actors play to prepare for a role are not always funny or even fun.
The writer is referring to an "I Love Lucy" episode in which Lucy Ricardo tries to prepare for a role in an Italian movie by becoming a grape stomper.
Ms. LuPone would surely have preferred to prepare for a role of this stature unencumbered by the strain of a nearly yearlong run in a Broadway musical.
Shia LaBeouf dropped acid for 24 hours to prepare for a role in forthcoming gangster film The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman.
